"In due time..."

A friend and colleague, Michael Kahn, told me about a movie short called "Our Time Is Up" (available for just $1.99 on iTunes). It's a 14-minute film in which we meet Dr. Stern, a therapist who's like one of the walking dead with the added benefit of a chip on his shoulder. His clients present stereotypical problems...O.C.D., afraid of the dark, closet homosexual, eating disorder, etc...and he treats them, as all of life, as a banal, boring, slightly-beneath-him exercise of endurance. His trademark response to most questions is, "In due time..."

And then he finds out that he has six weeks to live.

As you might guess, that news shocks the hell out of him and the truth into him. He wakes up to life, and in the meantime, starts telling his clients what he really thinks, no holds barred! I'll leave the rest for you to see, but here are some of the quintessential questions around such a topic:

Why does it take something tragic for us to wake up to life?

Why do we wander around as if we knew we had all the time in the world?

How would life look and feel differently if you only had six weeks to live? Who would you love? Who would you leave?

And here's a good one: If the awakened, no-bullshit Dr. Stern was sitting across from you, what would he say? What would he call you on? Challenge you to?

What are you waiting for?